Chuck vs Writer's Block
by Notorious JMG
Summary: An iTunes random 10 story, done expressly as a way of breaking a nearly month-long case of writer's block. You've got your Charah, your unrequited Jill love for Chuck, a brief Bryce death scene, and Casey being a badass. Rated T for language and content.


**Evan Rachel Wood – "If I Fell", from **_**Across the Universe**_

Sarah Walker is not, by her nature, a very trusting person.

That's why Chuck Bartowski scares her so very, very much. From the day she met him, she has trusted him. It's almost as if an innate trust existed between them from the very beginning.

And that's not like her. She didn't trust her own father. She didn't trust Director Graham. She sure as HELL didn't trust Bryce Larkin.

She didn't know how bad it was that morning, so long ago, when she asked Chuck to trust her. But now, she's scared. She trusts him, and she doesn't know if she should.

One day, he's going to find out about her. He's going to find out about her past. And then, who knows if she'll be able to trust him anymore.

That will not be a good day, because Sarah Walker has long since fallen in love with Chuck Bartowski.

* * *

**30 Seconds to Mars – "Savior"**

It hurt. It burned. It felt like somebody had taken a hot poker and jabbed it into his side.

_Or perhaps, the sword to make sure I'm dead_, Bryce Larkin thought with a grimace.

He had never wanted to have an ego, or even a messiah complex. But it seemed like that was what happened. He was asked, over and over again, to save people from themselves. Back at Stanford, he was asked to save Chuck from himself. Then, years later, he was asked to save the United States from itself. And now…

_Too late now_. Bryce sighed and leaned against the wall. He didn't have the strength to pick himself up. And that was a pity, too. The card was in his hand. The Intersect computer wasn't even twenty feet away. It would be so easy to destroy it.

But the fact of the matter was, Bryce just didn't care any longer. Hell, in a few minutes time, it wouldn't be his problem. Why should he care?

And then, he saw the feet emerge through the ceiling. _Aw, goddammit, Chuck_…

* * *

**The Bloodhound Gang – "The Bad Touch"**

Lester Patel. Nerd Herder by day. Internet Dating Consultant by night. Sex god by nature.

Well, at least, that was what he thought. For some reason, he didn't seem to be able to convince anybody else of that fact.

Anna thought he was disgusting. Ellie Bart- oops, Woodcomb – wouldn't even talk to him unless A) Devon was around, or B) she had her pepper spray in her hand. And Sarah Walker… well, after that episode at the Wienerlicious a couple of years ago, Lester was more than content to desire her from afar.

But right now, he was going to let himself go free. The Buy More was closed for the evening. Security shades had been drawn down over all the windows. The store was Lester's playground.

_Boobies Boobies Boobies!_ was retrieved from Lester's locker and promptly put up on the wall. Lester was, himself, wearing a pair of jeans and a half-open silk shirt – as befitted a sex god. And for the final touch…

The iPod was plugged in. The song was selected. Lester hit play.

_Sweat, baby, sweat, baby, sex is a Texas drought…_

As Lester danced to his heart's content on top of the Nerd Herd counter, a floor tile popped up. John Casey carefully poked his head up, wondering what the hell…

"Oh, dear God," Casey grunted, quickly dropping back down below the floor.

* * *

**Three Doors Down – "Let Me Go"**

Washington, Iowa. There was absolutely no way that anybody would find her here. The nearest major city was an hour away, and Cedar Rapids was hardly a booming metropolis by American standards. Hell, even by Iowan standards. Des Moines had grown to a point where it now dwarfed Cedar Rapids.

And for the woman now known as Linda McIntyre, that was ideal. No feds were going to come snooping around Washington – which, to Linda, was ironic, given the name of the town. But the fact of the matter was, nobody was going to suspect the receptionist at Gretter Chevrolet of being a former member of a domestic terror group.

Really, though, why would they? She looked nothing like she used to. A very thorough blonde dye job had radically altered her appearance, and her old glasses – the one affectation she had kept as an admission of her inner nerd – were gone, replaced by green contacts.

If only they knew that she spent the majority of each day behind the counter at Gretter actively throwing anybody and everybody off of his electronic trail. Fulcrum, the CIA, the NSA – you name it, she made it practically impossible for them to keep an eye on Chuck Bartowski. If the government wanted to watch him, they were going to have to make do with the two agents they sent to Los Angeles.

And each night, when she went to bed, Linda would look for a moment at the picture of Chuck that she kept on her nightstand, and say a brief prayer for him. Because despite everything, deep beneath the made up persona of Linda McIntyre, what was left of Jill Roberts still loved Chuck Bartowski very much.

* * *

**Sublime – "Caress Me Down"**

I'm Devon Woodcomb, and I love my wife. Like, LOVE, dude. Seriously. There's this thing she can do with her tongue –

Oh, I'm sorry. My bad. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just – she's awesome, you know? I mean, have I told you about the things she can do with her hands? Seriously, magical –

Aw, damn. Really. I'm sorry. Not awesome. But I tell you what, when I wake up in the morning – and certain parts of me are more awake than others – she knows just what to do –

Okay. Wait a second, why am I talking to YOU, embarrassing you? If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find Ellie.

* * *

**System of a Down – "Kill Rock'n'Roll"**

It is a serious mistake to mess with Anna Wu. It is an even bigger mistake to mess with her boyfriend, Morgan Grimes. The punkass bitch from Mighty Jock had found THAT one out the hard way. Anna had taken a camera tripod and turned that gap between his teeth into a friggin' chasm.

So one afternoon, she saw Morgan getting berated by John Casey for God knew what, and she had had just about enough. She didn't care if Casey was essentially Chuck Bartowski's enforcer – and God only knew how that had happened – she was gonna give Casey what for.

And so, that night, she hid behind Casey's precious POS of a twenty year old Ford, camera tripod in hand, black ski mask on her forehead, ready to pull down over her eyes. The Buy More had been closed for fifteen minutes, and Casey should be coming out any minute now –

"Wu."

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard John Casey's voice behind her. She whirled on him, camera tripod swinging forward, but his hand reached up quicker than she could've imagined he would react, and brought the tripod to a halt.

He narrowed his eyes, appraising her silently. "Not bad, really," he finally said. "You couldn't have known that the Vic is equipped with proximity sensors and a surveillance system. Had it been anybody else's car… I'm pretty sure they'd be in a world of pain right now."

Casey released the tripod, and reached into a pocket. His hand came back out with a card in it. "Call this number," he told her. "Ask to speak with Mr. Montgomery. I'm pretty sure that your country could use your services."

* * *

**Red Hot Chili Peppers – "She's Only 18"**

Jeff leaned back in his chair behind the Nerd Herd counter, eyes drooping closed, earbuds securely in place, a sleepy smile on his face. The words, the magical guitar that sounded in his ears… God really knew what he was doing when he made her.

He was startled out of his reverie by a megaphone being activated in front of him. "JEFFREY BARNES!" he heard. _Oh God, my mother_, he thought. Then he realized…

It was just Chuck, a rather annoyed look on his face. "You aren't getting paid to sleep, Jeff," Chuck said. "And you should know better than to be listening to your iPod out here. Now… take it off…"

As Chuck reached out a hand to remove Jeff's earbud, however, Jeff got a wild look in his eyes, and slapped Chuck's hand away. "No, Chuck!"

Chuck frownd. "What the hell, Jeff?" He reached out and yanked the earbud out of Jeff's ear. Jeff's eyes went wide as Chuck tried to discern the music coming from the earbud. "Is that… is that Taylor Swift?"

Jeff barely nodded. "She's my muse," he whispered, a distinctly creepy tone in his voice.

Chuck just shook his head. "Jeff… she's only eighteen."

A disturbing smile spread across Jeff's face. "I know. She's legal."

* * *

**Justin Timberlake – "Summer Love"**

Hi, my name is Ellie Woodcomb, and my husband is insatiable. I don't know what it is, either. I mean, yeah, he liked sex before we got married, but now, I swear, he wants it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and apparently subscribes to Taco Bell's theory of the fourth meal as well.

Now, don't get me wrong. I can't say that it's a bad thing, myself. My husband's very talented – what? We're all adults here, aren't we? Now, as I was saying, my husband is VERY talented, and I kid you not, I'm pretty certain I've had as many orgasms in the month and a half since we got married as I did in my entire life up until our wedding day.

And, to be honest, it's apparently beneficial for others as well. Just the other day, Sarah Walker came by the apartment to pick something up for Chuck and take it to him at work – which, by the way, his new job with Symantec is downright amazing – and, you know, nobody had really thought twice when we gave her a key to the apartment. Quite honestly, I really never would've expected her to walk through the front door while Devon and I were _in flagrante delicto_ on the couch.

She immediately went redder than a fire engine and departed the apartment so quickly I swear there was a sonic boom. But here's the really funny part. About an hour later, Devon called Chuck to ask him a question, and even though Chuck only answered the phone long enough to VERY breathlessly say, "Not now, Devon!", Devon is quite certain that he heard a moaning female in the background, and before Chuck's phone actually disconnected, Devon swears – SWEARS – that he heard Chuck say something along the lines of, "Oh, Sarah, oh God!"

See. My husband's insatiability, proving beneficial for my little brother. Isn't that wonderful?

Or creepy. Nah. It's great.

* * *

**Kid Rock – "American Badass"**

It was a monthly ritual. John Casey would drive out to the Salton Sea, guns in the trunk, and do some shooting. Sometimes, if the drive down State Highway 86 was REALLY boring, he'd drive with a handgun and shoot at poor defenseless wildlife on the side of the road.

"If God wanted 'em to live, he'd've made 'em smarter," Casey said by way of justification. Not that he ever had to justify himself to anybody. Nobody knew he did this, save for General Beckman. He always did it on his days off.

He loved cruising down the I-10 freeway, windows down, blasting early '80s Metallica through the sound system in the Crown Vic. It made him feel young again, like the fresh-out-of-OCS Marine lieutenant he had once been, his former drill instructor now his trusted right hand.

That had been long ago, well before the whole Intersect debacle and Project Moron. Back then, he hadn't been Lieutenant Colonel John Casey, NSA agent and idiot babysitter. No, back then, he'd been Second Lieutenant John Casey, United States Marine and true American badass.

* * *

**Cake – "Short Skirt, Long Jacket"**

Chuck Bartowski is not, by his nature, a very trusting person.

Too many people have betrayed him in his life. His dad was hardly a presence when he was young. His mom up and disappeared on him and Ellie. Bryce Larkin conspired to get him kicked out of Stanford. Jill Roberts dumped him because of Fulcrum. FULCRUM! Really, he only trusts his sister and Captain Awesome – and it had taken years for C.A. to gain his trust.

That's why it was so difficult for him that morning on the beach when Sarah had asked him to trust her. And it's not like she made it easy for him to trust her – lies left and right, continued insistence that it was "just a cover" when he could see differently on her face, defenseless men gunned down in Christmas tree lots – how was he supposed to trust her after all that?

In reality, it's surprisingly easy for him to trust her. Maybe it's because Ellie trusts her – although she probably wouldn't if she knew the truth. But the fact is, Ellie DOES trust her, and despite everything Chuck knows, that makes a huge difference.

What Chuck felt like the final barrier to trust between them was stripped away that morning in Barstow. That morning when he woke up, pressed against her in a very intimate fashion. When she turned over, and she didn't have to say anything – he could see it written on her face.

Sure, there was a minor hiccup when he thought she was leaving with Bryce, but that's in the past now. And he knows that she's afraid he's going to find out even more about her past, but in reality, he doesn't care. She's never going to have to worry about losing his trust.

You see, Chuck Bartowski has long since fallen in love with Sarah Walker.


End file.
